Player Profile: Antonio Richardson

Height:  6'6
Weight:  336
School:  Tennessee
Position:  Offensive Tackle
Ranking:  #13 Offensive Tackle
Projection:  Day 3

Strengths
-Ideal size (6'6) and length (35" arms) to play tackle
-Experienced.  Three year starter in the SEC
-Good Strength. 36 Bench reps at combine is impressive with arm length
-Good quickness (1.81 10 yard split) for somebody his size
-Can a good job of using his body to wall off defenders
-Shows a good kickstep that allows him to get deep in pass protection
-Able to mirror defenders when consistently moving his feet
-Can show flashes of good quickness to beat a lineman to a spot
-Will show a nasty streak you like in lineman

Weaknesses
-Lacks a strong anchor.  Can get pushed back pretty easily.
-Struggles to block in space.  May have to play in a man blocking scheme exclusively.
-Lateral agility isn't good.  Gets beat frequently with quick moves inside
-Not an overpowering run blocker.  Isn't gonna move defenders off their spot
-Doesn't use his hands very well.  Grabs way too much
-Bends too much at the waist.  Creates balance issues
-Struggles to sustain blocks
-Gets called for a lot of false starts


Summary
This summer when everybody moved past the 2013 draft class and started looking towards 2014 we often saw Antonio Richardson as somebody who was mentioned as one of the top tackles in the class and a potential first round pick.  And why not?  Richardson has prototypical size and length teams covet out of left tackles and despite his size he moves well.  However as you watch Richardson you see somebody who just isn't that good.  Despite his size he isn't overly strong or powerful.  In the run game he's a position blocker, he's not going to move anybody off their spot.  In pass protection he gets pushed back against bull rushes.  When playing South Carolina, Jadeveon Clowney made Richardson look like he was on skates.  Kony Ealy of Missouri regularly beat him. Now his size and length makes it hard to get past him quickly and the fact that Tennessee ran a spread and got the ball out quickly he didn't give up a ton of sacks or pressure.  However pass rushers in the NFL would have a hay day with him. There were several times in each game where he doesn't block anybody.  So where does Richardson go?  I believe he'll go somewhere in the fourth round where a team will take a chance of trying to fix his technique and get the most out of him.  However it wouldn't shock me at all of he fell to the sixth or seventh round.  He'll be drafted.  Just not where everybody had him this past summer.